Is there Scum in the Pot?

Much like the word “stuff” shows up in Ezekiel 12 as the cause for spiritual blindness, the word “scum” shows up in Ezekiel 24 to reveal that “stuff” turns into “scum” when not dealt with. The spiritual nature of “stuff” and the spiritual condition of “scum” are both synonymous with SIN.

According to Websters 1828, Scum is “the extraneous matter or impurities which rise to the surface of liquors in boiling or fermentation, or which form on the surface by other means. The word is also applied to the scoria of metals. The refuse; the recrement; that which is vile or worthless.

God sees our sins as “filthiness” and “scum,” and the sins that God speaks of that are directly connected to the “scum” are “lies” and “lewdness.” Those two things are certainly prevalent, predominant, and promoted in American culture, but I believe it could also be said of the culture of the modern “church/christianity” and the culture or condition of our heart.

What God desires for his children is that they maintain a clean “pot” (“vessel”). When stuff gets in the pot that doesn’t belong, God’s command and desire is for us to empty it and cleanse it (2 Corinthians 7:1; 1 John 1:9) before it turns into “scum.” Scum is much harder to clean and needs a deeper and harsher scrubbing, which doesn’t “feel” very good.

F.Y.I. Most modern Bibles remove “scum” from Ezekiel and insert it into Lamentations 3:45 and 1 Corinthians 4:13. The AV1611 only has the word show up 5 times in the three verse of Ezekiel 24:6-12 in reference to Israel’s sinful condition. God doesn’t refer to us as “scum,” but he does refer to us as being the “filth of the world” and the “offscouring of all things.”